


we're far from the shallow now

by usuallyamazinglyaverage



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, At least V thinks so, Canon-Typical Violence, Dirty Talk, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fix-It, Flashbacks, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hair-pulling, Jealousy, Nomad Lifepath, Older Man/Younger Woman, Oral Sex, Porn with Feelings, Praise Kink, Rough Sex, Smoking, Spoilers, Swearing, Unrequited Love, Vaginal Fingering, she's dead wrong
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 01:14:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29235150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/usuallyamazinglyaverage/pseuds/usuallyamazinglyaverage
Summary: In which Mikoshi isn't the end, but the beginning.(A Fix-it fic following V and Johnny as they come to terms with their renewed lease on life - and what that means for them.)
Relationships: Johnny Silverhand/Female V, Johnny Silverhand/V
Comments: 5
Kudos: 42





	we're far from the shallow now

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, hello :'))  
> Listen, I've been simping over Johnny since November and hurt myself with two seperate playthroughs. This my desperate attempt at mending my broken heart and giving my V and her ghost boyfriend the happy ending they deserved. I'm taking creative liberties, of course, but screw canon anyway, right?
> 
> I apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes. I often write at night and my tired brain scrambles to keep up.  
> This fic was inspired by Lady Gaga's and Bradley Cooper's "Shallow" - my go-to SilverV song, which you can find in [this playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIV9FjuRkUgj4wj3autHy48l3vAoHRmgV).

The putrid, nauseating stench of burning synth-flesh overwhelmed her already scrambled senses as V stared at Adam Smasher, twitching and sparking on his knees, eyes half-dead and filled with disbelieving rage.

She raised the Malorian, muzzle pressing into the seared gray skin of his forehead, finger slipping over the trigger.

“Johnny Silverhand sends his regards, lapdog,” she grit out, shaky with exhaustion.

Her interface glitched, displaying another relic malfunction and making blood pool in her mouth. V forced it back down, wincing at the liquid burn.

Smasher bared his teeth. “Are you fucking with me now?”

“He's got a point, V.” Johnny crackled into existence next to the merc, aviators clipped to the collar of his vest. “Shut up and finish him, be done with it.”

There was no bite to his remark, but it caught her attention nonetheless. “Don't wanna say anything to him?”

“My gun did the talkin'. Not gonna to waste my breath.” Worry cut through the throbbing pain behind her eyes, tempestuous and foreign and definitely Johnny's. “Or the time you got left. We _need_ to move.”

If it weren't for her injuries and the fact that she was a few pulses away from death, V would have smiled at his concern, maybe needled a bit more out of him.

Just for the sake of it. Just because that was all she would ever get.

Now? Now it was reminder of everything she was about to lose.

The former rockstar gave her an odd look when her conflicted feelings mingled with his own. Ignoring it resolutely, V readjusted her grip.

Johnny's gun jerked in her hand, the shot echoing in the body-littered chamber. Smasher hit the floor with a wet splat, God-knows-what oozing onto the polished surface.

 _Finally_.

A breath escaped V and Johnny simultaneously. Relief. Vindication. And, as always, no way to tell if the emotions were hers or his. The weight of Johnny's metal hand settled on her back, glinting fingers digging deep. Somewhere in the delirious recesses of her brain, she hoped that he would leave bruises.

“I suggest you hurry to Mikoshi before they launch another attack,” Alt warned from overhead, the door on the far end of the room sliding open with a hiss and revealing another hallway lit by red lights.

As if on cue, a coughing fit shook the entirety of V's body, forcing her to the ground and jostling her broken ribs. Blood hit her palm, thick and vicious and far more than just a few minutes ago. Wiping it on her slim-fits and spitting out the rest, she forced herself to her feet, staggering on her first step.

Johnny gripped her elbow on the next, sliding down until the entirety of his 'ganic arm encircled her waist, holding V steady.

“Not far now, princess,” he muttered, the endearment warming her insides.

“Careful, Silverhand,” she croaked, leaning into him and allowing a small smile to curl at the corners of her lips. “Saying things like that might give a girl the wrong idea.”

His responding chuckle was entirely humorless and the merc couldn't help but notice how his grip tightened just a fraction, thumb drawing nonsensical patterns until they finally reached the end of the hallway, the door opening to reveal the core of the facility.

The circular room was... less impressive than she had expected it to be. Steel columns and walkways lined the sleek walls, most of the space occupied by a pool of cooling liquid. And at the very center, a pillar on a platform, emitting an eery glow that bled into neon blue and metallic black.

 _We saw this place in a dream_ , she mused, almost sure that the thought wasn't just her own.

A shiver ran down her spine as Johnny guided V over one of the short bridges, the sudden, unnatural silence spooking her more than she wanted to admit. It was like stepping into emptiness, a vacuity devoid of anything resembling life.

“Alt? We're at the access point.” Readying the interface plug in her wrist, she waited, bracing her free palm on the flashing display.

 _Nothing_.

“Alt? Can we start?”

“ _Screw_ waitin'. Jack in before -”

“I have made a discovery.” The AI cut Johnny off, the usual detached tone of her voice tinged with an odd sort of surprise. “You must see for yourself.”

“The _fuck_ do you mean?” he snapped. “She's steps away from death, we don't have time for satisfyin' your sick curiosity-”

Packs of data flooded and crowded her Kiroshis, the implants straining to filter through it all, zeroes and ones slowly adjusting to form a decipherable pattern -

She straightened and grabbed Johnny's arm, her mouth falling open.

**_Subject: Robert John Linder, age 34 (born November 16 th, 1988)._ **

**_Condition: Acceptable. Cyberware damaged beyond functionality. Body functions stabilized and set for cryogenic suspension._ **

**_Value: Highest priority for testing. Disposal strictly prohibited._ **

His eyes widened in response, both staring at each other mutely.

“Alt,” V's words were unsteady when she finally managed to get them out. “How do we -”

“There is a panel on the wall opposite of the tower. I cannot access it without your personal link.”

“V.” The former rockstar shook his head, jaw tense. “Don't even think about it.”

For just a short moment, she blinked up at him. “You can't be serious.”

He balled his hands into fists. “Deadly serious. Jack in and let's get it over with.”

The sharp something near her heart twisted, hurt leaving a bitter taste on her tongue as she turned away and dug through her pockets.

“I'm not listening to this.” She barely felt the sting of the BounceBack when she jammed it into her sternum, right into where black ink was etched into the skin. “You're usually so unbelievably selfish, but now you want to take off with your tail between your legs? Fucking _spare me_.”

“ _Spare you_?” Johnny followed her as she pushed herself off the pillar, stumbling past and towards the walkway behind it. “Are you seriously givin' me shit for wanting to safe your life? I'm tryin' to keep the promise I made to you, you stupid bitch!”

Stopping dead in her tracks, V whirled around, shoving at his chest. “So am I, asshole! Back at the Pistis Sofia you asked me if I would take a bullet for you, and I said that I _would_. This is me taking the proverbial hit. Big _fucking_ surprise, I care about you enough to not choose the easy way out.”

By the end of her outburst, there were tears rolling down her cheeks and V _hated_ herself for it. _God_ , Johnny made her _so_ _vulnerable,_ all the damn time – and she had never wanted him to find out, had never wanted him to realize how easily he dismantled her defenses.

Not like this. Not when he would eventually leave her, like everyone else.

V could feel it when the plaintive thought dripped through their connection, and she was too weak to hold on to it. Once again, she turned away, unwilling and unable to watch his surprise morph into something else entirely.

The panel Alt had spoken of was barely visible among the dark metal, a thin rectangular outline of red the only indication of it being there at all. Wiping at her wet eyes, V pulled the interface plug from her wrist with shaky fingers, the effects of the BounceBack already waning. After a few tries, it finally clicked into place.

The merc could almost sense Alt as she bypassed the security measures, processing every bit of data and inserting commands. With each one, another line of light connected to the panel, exposing more indents and extending like branches on a tree until every single inch of the alloyed surface was covered in them. A labyrinth built upon lives.

“Holy shit,” Johnny exhaled behind V. “The shapes, they're-”

She nodded tightly. “Cryopods. Sick _fucks_. I don't even want to think about what they did with the bodies they kept.”

“Johnny's body has not been removed from cryogenic suspension since 2023,” Alt informed them. “I suspect that Saburo Arasaka kept it as a token. Or trophy, if you prefer.”

“Where... where is he?”

V flinched when the indent closest to her gave a sharp hiss, sliding from the wall slowly, soundlessly. Icy fog wafted from the elongated box, obscuring her sight and smelling faintly of chemicals.

Steeling herself for seeing him in the flesh didn't help much.

When his pale, motionless face came into view, it still felt like every single memory of the past months colliding, merging into something she didn't dare to even _think_ , punching the oxygen from her battered lungs.

He was dressed in some sort of jumpsuit, short sleeved and made out of synthetic, rubber-like material. A thick, intravenous cannula was jammed into his arm, pumping a sickly green liquid that vaguely reminded her of jello.

He seemed so – fragile. _Lost_. Such a far cry from the cocky, gruff man inside her head.

Without a second thought, she leaned closer, brushing a strand of inky black hair from his brow. It was cold, but soft to the touch.

“V...”

She looked up, snatching her hand away as if burned. The conflicted amalgamation of emotions in his eyes was enough to make her swallow the longing seizing her throat and bury her feelings deep.

“Alt,” she said meekly, defeated. “What do we do?”

“All subjects received a personal link upon preparation for cryogenic suspension. Connect Johnny to the console inside the pod and yourself to the central pillar. Then submerse yourself in coolant.”

“And then we'll get our bodies back?”

The AI paused, clearly contemplating V's question. “We will see.”

**Author's Note:**

> It'll get better, I promise.


End file.
